Media Plan: Sonic Drive in
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Media Plan
Prepared by Joel Carr Jake Reuter Erik Skeim
November 25th 2013
Confidential Internal Use Only
Media Plan: Sonic Drive in
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Introduction to Sonic Corporation
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Current Market Conditions
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Product Description
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Target Market Analysis
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Copy Strategy Statement
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Media Objectives
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Media strategies
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Works Cited
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Appendices
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Media Plan: Sonic Drive in
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Introduction to Sonic Corporation
Sonic began in the early 1950’s. It was founded by Troy Smith. When Sonic America’s
Drive-In was first started it begin as a hamburger and root beer stand. Sonic America’s Drive-In
was not the original name when it was first created. It used to be called Top Hat Drive-In. Sonic
was founded in Shawnee Oklahoma. When Sonic first started they were very innovative with
their ordering process by using outdoor speakers, that granted customers the ability to order their
without having to leave their cars. With this innovative technology, it originated the slogan
“Service at the Speed of Sound”. Which translated into Sonic. Mr. Smith changed the name to
Sonic in 1959.
Today, Sonic is America’s biggest chain of drive in restaurants. There are more 3,500
drive-in restaurants in 44 different states. Sonic serves around 3 million customers every single
day. “SONIC received top honors as America’s “#1 burger quick service restaurant” in the 2013
Temkin Experience Ratings report.” (AMERICA'S DRIVE-IN BRAND PROPERTIES LLC.,
2012). In 1990 Sonic was incorporated into the state of Delaware. In 1991 Sonic started offering
the public common stock. In the past 60 years Sonic has thrilled its guests with its acclaimed
menu items and its numerous drink combinations. Sonic has iconized the carhop. The carhop is
one out of many different reasons why people choose to visit Sonic. A fun fact about sonic is
Sonic has “sold enough tots that when placed end-to-end would circle the globe… TWICE”.
(AMERICA'S DRIVE-IN BRAND PROPERTIES LLC., 2012)
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Current Market Conditions
Sonic is in the quick serve restaurant industry, and the industry is highly competitive.
Even though sonic serves mostly burgers and hotdogs, some of their fierce competition is pizza
restaurants. Out of the top 16 fast food according to Rapheal Brion, Sonic is ranked 6th out of
16. Sonic falls behind other quick serve restaurants like McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s,
Dairy Queen and Arby’s. Sonic has created a marketing strategy that has been designed to build
Sonic’s brand and to help sustain high volumes of customer satisfaction and to have repeat
business. Sonic created their marketing plan to set them apart from their competition. In their
marketing plan they plan to differentiate themselves apart from their competition by emphasizing
“emphasizing high quality distinctive made-to-order menu items and personalized service
featuring skating carhops.”(AMERICA'S DRIVE-IN BRAND PROPERTIES LLC., 2012). Their
marketing plan also includes various promotions that are used throughout the Sonic Drive-In
chain. In Sonic’s most recent years, Sonic has supported their marketing plan by placing ads on
TV, radio interactive media, point of sale. These promotions mostly focus around limited-time
items and signature menu items.
Product Description
Sonic offers many different products. Some of the products that are offered by Sonic
Drive-in are a variety of hamburgers, hotdogs, coneys and they have breakfast items that are
served all day. They have many different frozen treats from milkshakes to sundaes floats just to
name a few. Sonic also a huge variety of drinks from soft drinks, slushes, tea, coffee, you name a
drink and they will mostly likely have it. And if turns out they don’t have the drink you were
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looking for then you can make your own drink combination. They offer over a million different
drink combinations. The Sonic burgers are “Prepare to be delighted with 100% pure beef, melty
cheese and fresh ingredients, all made to order”. (AMERICA'S DRIVE-IN BRAND
PROPERTIES LLC., 2013). They have 6 different hot dog choices on their menu which include
an all-American dog, a Chicago dog, a New York dog, Chili cheese coney, they have a footing
quarter pound coney and they also offer a corn dog. Another product feature they offer that helps
differentiate themselves from their competitors is the carhop. A carhop is the person who serves
you your food. They usually ride around on roller skates. All their products have a retro theme to
them, which helps them to stand out from competition. “They have retro, trendy and future look
that is fun for the customer and attracts them”. (Sonic drive in," 2010). Sonic offers take home
service, drive in, and you can drive through or just dine on their patio. Because of Sonic’s retro
theme it keeps them from getting into pricing wars with competitors.
Sonic’s major competition comes from other quick serve restaurants, like McDonalds,
Burger King and Wendy’s. The quick serve industry is very competitive when it comes to price,
location service, and most importantly food quality. The restaurant industry is influenced by
many different factors like consumer trends, what the economy is like, demographics nutritional
value and traffic patterns. Sonic is most conceded with speed and their quality of service, they
take pride in their signature menu items, their monthly promotions and their method for food
preparation. Sonic competitors include a giant number of regional, national and even local food
services this also includes casual dining restaurants.
Target Market Analysis
Geographics
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For our campaign we will doing a national plus spot campaign. Our national coverage
will remind people about Sonic and will keep our name out there. The spot campaign will focus
on 30 new markets and two meets are ready established. Sonic has been building a footprint in
the northwestern and mid northern states the past 5 years and they are still looking to grow and
expand in that direction.
Psychographics
The target market featured in our campaign are adults who are on the go, or have two
children, looking for something that will be wholesome to the whole family, these adults have
college degrees. These adults like nostalgia. These people are very simple, and don’t need fancy
things to entertain them. Also the adults are money conscious and don’t just throw their money
around.
Demographics
The demographics of target markets are adults aged 25-49. These adults typically have
one or two chidden. Their income is from 40,000 and up, they are homeowners, who are light to
moderate TV watchers, who listen to the radio on their way to and from work and who are light
magazine readers.
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Copy Strategy Statement
The creative strategy will be based around creating awareness in our new 30 markets, and
also reminding people that we are still out there going stronger than ever. These ads will be
humorous. There will be many jokes in these ads. And these ads will feature people that
represent our target market. They will be aged 25-49. The people that will be featured in these
ads will be dressed in casual cloths like jeans and T-shirts. Our ads will feature people enjoying
our products. These ads will be very visual and eye catchy. We also want to start fettering the
carhops in the commercial because they really help Sonic to stand out from the competition. We
also want to show off the retro theme, we want that to be the focus of some of ads, so when
people want to feel nostalgia they can do it at Sonic. We want to keep everything simple and not
to complex. We would like all the ads to tie together, and have some continuity with them. These
ads will always be set at a Sonic Drive-in. We want to show off the restaurant in all its wonder
and glory. We will have strong visuals and will also feature a strong copy.
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Media Objectives
Reach
To reach 70 % of the target market nationally during peak sales months and to
reach 60% of the target market nationally during the remaining months
To reach 90 % of the spot target market during peak sales months and to reach 65 %
of the target market during the remaining months
According to Martin and Coons moderate reach is 70 to 75%, highest reach is up
to 90% and lowest is 50 to 60%. For the nation reach we chose 70% to stay normal
during peak sales months and then 60% for the remainder months to make room for
more reach in the spot market. The spot markets are part of the highest reach of 90%
during peak months and then fall down to 60% during the remaining months. By
having reach levels higher during peak months it can conserve advertisement for
when they can make the greatest impact on the audiences.
Frequency
To achieve an average frequency of at least three nationally during each flight and
to achieve an average frequency of at least four in spot markets during each flight.
Martin and Coons also say that a low average frequency is two to three and
highest average frequency is 12. This means that most of the people who see the
advertisements will see around 3 nationally and 4 times in the spot
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markets. The frequency for spot markets is higher because they should see the
national advertisements and also the spot market advertisements.
Continuity
To maintain continuity of impressions at regular intervals throughout the campaign.
Keeping a good continuity is good way to keep reminders to people to buy. There will be
heavier advertising during peak sale months and less advertising during the other months.
By keeping some advertisements throughout the entire year people will be reminded of
Sonic Drive-In.
Flexibility
To maintain a moderate level of flexibility throughout the campaign for both the
nation and spot campaigns.
The cost for certain media can change throughout a given year. By having a
moderate level of flexibility it can help prevent budgeting problems that may arise in the
future. By having the contingency budget it keeps everything on the safe side.
Creative strategy implication
To support the creative strategy of using strong visual appeal of the product.
Using strong visuals is one of the best ways to advertise for food products so that when
people see the food they may get hungry and start craving the product. Using visuals for
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food products is a very important part of the creative advertising. By getting people to see
the food when it’s looking its best can create the desire for that person to want that food.
Budget
To stay within the given budget of $28 million.
The budget is $28 million for the year of advertisements. There will be $1.4
million that will be set aside for the contingency plan just in case the media spots prices
change during the year. This will split up to 700,000 for national and 700,000 for spot
just in case there is a need for that additional money. This will leave a total budget of
$26.6 million for buying media in national and spot market areas.
G. Promotional
To keep customers aware of new limited time products and signature menu
items by using them in the advertisements that are being used.
By utilizing promotions that are going on with sonic by having them in the
advertisements can help promote more customers. Having the promotions in the
advertisements will encourage the customers to go to Sonic Drive-In.
Media strategies
Reach
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By utilizing both national and spot market media buys, the reach can greatly be
increased.
By using high reach media to increase the reach
By using a variety of media to increase the reach
Since the plan is both a national and spot campaign, the people that are in the
spot markets will be getting more advertisements from different media vehicles. The
people that are in the spot markets are the people that are being focused on the most.
In those spot markets the people will be seeing advertisements from the national
campaign media vehicles and then also will be seeing the advertisements from the spot
campaign media vehicles. This will help to increase the reach of the audience for those
spot campaign people. The people that are not in the spot markets will be getting high
reach from all the different media vehicles that are in the national campaign.
Choosing media that has high reach ratings is very important. By using media
such as television and radio, the reach can be high since they are high reach media.
These types of advertisements are good at reaching out to a lot of people.
Buying a variety of different media is also a great way to increase the reach of
the campaign. By using a multiple variety of television advertisements, a multiple variety
of radio advertisements and also a multiple variety of magazine advertisements, the
reach of the campaign could be the best it could be.
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By using television advertisement the audience could see the food or drinks that
Sonic Drive-In has to offer. This helps by using strong visuals to the audience and letting
them see what they could have first hand. If the audience sees the food it could also
help with them to get hungry and then therefor would want to go to Sonic Drive-In to
satisfy their hunger. Television advertisements have a lot of great advantages including
the fact that they have high reach ratings.
By using radio advertisements the audience could possibly immediately go to
Sonic Drive-In. The majority of the people that are listening to the radio are doing so in
their cars. By advertising on the radio it makes it so when people are out and about in
their cars, whether that be going to or from work or just running errands, they can be
reminded about Sonic Drive-In. Since Sonic Drive-In is a drive-in restaurant it makes
sense that there should be radio advertising in the campaign. Radio advertisements are
also a great way to increase the reach of the campaign.
By using magazine advertisements the audience can see good visuals of the food
and drinks that Sonic Drive-In has to offer. With magazine advertisements the
advertisements can have high quality and color. This can be good for the audience
because they can see the food in great quality
Frequency
By limiting media choices to several specific media and day parts.
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Limiting how many different media is being used there can be more money
spent on certain ones to increase the frequency. Seeing an advertisement one time
might be enough for some people, but for most they need to see the advertisement a
couple of times before it will stick in their memory. By buying multiple segments in the
same media it can increase how many times an individual sees the advertisements.
There needs to be a good point of buying a lot of different media and buying a
lot of the same media to get a good balance of reach and frequency. This was done in
this plan to meet the objectives of reach and frequency
Continuity
By using timely and continuous scheduling throughout the year Sonic Drive-In can have
advertisements all the way through the year.
Having advertisements throughout the entire year is the best way for people to
remember Sonic Drive-In when they choose where to eat. Advertising throughout the
year makes it so that there isn’t gaps of advertising where people don’t see any
advertisements. There needs to be advertisements all throughout the year because
Sonic Drive-In is open all year long.
Flexibility
By having a contingency budget of 5% of the budget, 1.4 million dollars, the advertising
campaign will have some extra money just in case there is an unforeseen pricing conflict
in the future.
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By having the contingency budget of 1.4 million dollars, 700,000 for national and
700,000 for spot, there won’t be any worries of a budget problem down the road. There
is always a chance of some unforeseen reason that an advertisements cost can rise and
without having the contingency budget there it could cause great problems. This keeps
everything on the safe side.
Creative
By using strong visuals and strong copy to show the customer the food and
drinks that Sonic Drive-In has to offer.
When it comes to advertising food and beverage products there needs to be
strong visuals. When the audience can see the good food right before their eyes, they
can know what to expect when they go to buy. This can be a great influence on getting
people to go to Sonic Drive-In. Even with the radio advertisement the copy will help to
paint a picture inside the audience’s minds of food so they can still get a visual in their
head.
Budget
By using cost efficient media and day parts to stay within the given budget.
Buying the right media is the key to staying in budget and also getting the
absolute most out of each buy. Some media is more cost efficient than others yet still
doesn’t yield the best reach, frequency, GRP’s or even the right target market. Each buy
is carefully picked to insure that the campaign is running as efficiently as it can. Staying
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on budget is very important to any campaign so there will not be more money spent
that is available.
Promotional
By utilizing the promotions that are going on with Sonic Drive-In in the advertisements
The promotions that will go on throughout the year of advertisements will be
utilized in the advertisements to help with the promotions. Most of the promotions are
for limited time foods or signature items at Sonic Drive-In. These promotions will be
mentioned in the advertisements so that the people who see the advertisements will
see the promotions.
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Works Cited
AMERICA'S DRIVE-IN BRAND PROPERTIES LLC. (2012). Fact
sheet. Retrieved from
http://sonicdrivein.com/Profile/FactSheet
AMERICA'S DRIVE-IN BRAND PROPERTIES LLC. (013). Menu.
Retrieved from http://www.sonicdrivein.com/Menu/
AMERICA'S DRIVE-IN BRAND PROPERTIES LLC. (2013).
Burgers. Retrieved from
http://www.sonicdrivein.com/MenuSection/burgers
Sonic drive in swot analysis . (2010, June 02). Retrieved from
http://www.freeswotanalysis.com/fast-food-companiesswot-analysis/17-sonic-drive-in-restaurants-swotanalysis.html
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Appendices